Crowsnest Pass 100 endurance bike race boosts mountain tourism

It was a busy weekend in Crowsnest Pass as more than 200 mountain bike and gravel bike riders took part in the third official Crowsnest Pass 100.

The endurance bike race takes riders on a gruelling trail with more than ten thousand feet of elevation change.

The longest race is 150 kilometres long and takes about 11 hours to complete.

Peter Hockenhull, the race co-director, started the event in 2019.

“We wanted something people would mark on their calendars and would kind of freak them out,” said Hockenhull.

They work with United Riders of Crowsnest (UROC), a non-profit that has built and maintained trails in the area since 2009.

“We knew they were doing awesome work, so we strongly considered this area to plot it out, and once we got down to check it out and actually rode bikes here, it was like a no-brainer,” said Hockenhull.

Hockenhull said the best part of the race is seeing riders cross the finish line, “especially for the people who are doing the longer distance races — sometimes that’s by far the longest and hardest they have had to put themselves through something, and it can, without exaggerating, it can be kind of life-changing for people, and it’s a pretty awesome thing to watch.”

Ryan Williams, a first-time 30 kilometre race finisher, said his adrenaline was pumping.

“One of the most fun races I’ve ever done — and I haven’t done much — but out of them and this one, just so much fun,” said Williams.

Cafe owner Jessica Sprague noticed that in the last fifteen years, endurance races have taken the area by storm and bring thousands of ultra-marathon runners and bikers to the area annually.

After a few years of cancelled races due to the pandemic, she’s now seeing a boom in business.

“It’s really great to have almost more business than we can handle,” said Sprague.

Hockenhull estimates for every dollar people spend on the race, they’re spending three times that on the community economy.

“We know that the economic impact is pretty big and we hope as the race grows that the impact grows too,” said Hockenhull.